Riley, a Michigan native who attended Detroit Country Day before coming to Syracuse, sat out the 2010-11 season due to a foot injury. He averaged 1.4 points and 1.5 rebounds as a freshman in the 2009-10 season.

During the past year, there had been rumblings that Riley wanted to return to a school closer to home. Anderson said her son wasn’t unhappy at Syracuse, but he had grown concerned over health issues that plagued both of his grandparents.

“He actually wanted to transfer back in January,’’ Anderson said. “He was worried about his grandparents, but the timing wasn’t good. He needed to stay and finish his studies. I wanted to make sure everything was in accord for him to make that move.’’

Anderson said Riley would begin taking summer school classes at Eastern Michigan on June 27.

Riley will join former SU assistant coach Rob Murphy at Eastern Michigan. Murphy, who is a Detroit native, left Syracuse in April to take over as the head coach at EMU.

Under normal circumstances Riley would have to sit out the 2011-12 season under the NCAA’s transfer rules. That would leave him with just two years’ of eligibility. However, Riley is expected to seek a waiver from the NCAA, allowing him to play this season as well as the two following years.

In addition to Riley, Murphy added another high-profile transfer to his program on Tuesday. Glenn Bryant, a 6-7 sophomore from Detroit, transferred to EMU from Arkansas.